One Of Disney’s Biggest Sci-Fi Flops Finds Redemption On Streaming, 3 Months After Its Release

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Okay, so Tron: Ares didn’t exactly kill it in theaters, which was a bummer. But honestly, it’s kinda cool to see it finding an audience now, about three months later. Disney had a pretty interesting year overall – they were the only studio with a bunch of 2025 releases hitting that billion-dollar mark, but they also had a few misses, like that live-action Snow White – it just didn’t connect with audiences the way they hoped.

One of Disney’s biggest box office failures was Tron: Ares, the third film in the Tron series. It arrived 15 years after Legacy and, despite a lot of pre-release buzz, only earned $142.2 million worldwide on a production budget estimated between $180 and $220 million.

Despite a rocky start in theaters, Tron: Ares is finding success on streaming. Since becoming available on Disney+ on January 7th, the movie quickly climbed to the top of the charts, surpassing popular titles like Avatar: The Way of Water (at number 2), the original Avatar (number 3), Fantastic Four: First Steps (number 4), and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (number 5).

I’ve been a fan of Tron for years, and it’s amazing how much of a following it’s gained, especially because of how revolutionary its visuals and music were. The first two movies centered around Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, and then Legacy shifted the focus to his son, Sam (Garrett Hedlund). But the newest film really blew things up! It went beyond what we knew and introduced Jared Leto as Ares, a program created by Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters). It was wild to see a character from the digital world of the Grid actually come into our reality.

The cast of Tron: Ares included new faces like Greta Lee and Hasan Minhaj, but Jeff Bridges returned to play Kevin. Joachim Rønning directed the third film in the series, working from a script by Jesse Wigutow.

The Disney film Tron: Ares, released in late 2025, received a mixed reaction from critics. Reviewers consistently praised the film’s stunning visuals and Nine Inch Nails’ soundtrack, but many found the storyline and new characters to be underdeveloped. Tron: Ares currently has a 53% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, though it boasts the highest audience score of any film in the Tron series at 84%.

Even though Tron: Ares did well on Disney+, the future of the Tron movies is unclear. While the film’s ending hinted at a possible sequel, its disappointing performance in theaters may mean the franchise won’t continue on the big screen, according to sources at The Hollywood Reporter.

So, Disney is staying tight-lipped about everything, and we still don’t know if Tron 4 is actually going to happen. The big question now is whether the positive response to the recent streaming release will influence their decision. They were potentially going to shelve the Tron franchise, but this could change things. Honestly, right now, it’s completely uncertain what they’ll do.

Tron: Ares is now streaming on Disney+.

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2026-01-08 18:30